If
you are ever visiting the National Museum in Kopenhagen, make sure
to study the medieval swords on display. This museum offers a fantastically
rich exhibit of objects and it is understandable if one gets distracted
on the way to the room where medieval weapons are kept.

Among the swords there is one rare and interesting specimen in a humble
place among the others.

The hilt is skillfully forged of iron and is devoid of any embellishment.
The design is somehow extreme and is quite expressive: a broad guard
with wildly flaring ends and a nicely defined D-shaped pommel. The
blade has a fuller of medium width and seems to date after the period
we know as the Viking age.

Peter Johnsson was happy for the opportunity to develop a hilt for
the Next Generation line that is inspired by the outstanding and unusual
original in Kopenhagen.

Jan Petersen, in his work on Norwegian Viking swords, defined the
AE type that shares exactly the same kind of broadly flaring guard
as the sword in Kopenhagen. The Norwegian hilts mostly or all seem
to have U shaped pommels however. Petersen dates this type to the
11th C.

Interestingly, apart from the famous Suontaka
sword, there are other weapons with similar hilts found in the Baltic
states. Some of these have curling antennae pommels and single edged
blades, but other have pommels that are D-shaped,triangular or even
trilobate. It seems we are dealing with a type that saw popularity
in different places around the Baltic Sea, with quite a bit of regional
variation. These swords belong to the end of the Viking period or
slightly later.

This was an age of profound and sometimes violent change, that saw
the end of paganism with the introduction of Christianity as the established
and favoured religion. Perhaps this hilt type is an expression of
a lingering spirit that harks back to older times?

A Limited Edition Hand Crafted Collectible Sword
This Viking sword is offered in a limited edition of only 500 collectible
swords worldwide.